Chapter 20 – Auction
To get to 4 Duan Qi in half a month and then 5 Duan Qi in another month and a half. This incredible speed was impossible even for the old Xiao Yan.
Even though at higher levels, raising one’s Duan Qi becomes harder and harder, looking at the speed in which Xiao Yan is rising, it shouldn’t be a problem for him to get to 7 Duan Qi by next year.
Of course, this is under the assumption that Xiao Yan has enough Foundation Elixir. Or else, Xiao Yan would definitely die under the severe beatings that he endures every day before getting to 7 Duan Qi. After all, without the Foundation Elixir, Xiao Yan’s weak body wouldn’t ever be able to withstand the harmful effects of having congested blood and he would die.
Therefore, what Xiao Yan needs to do right now is to buy more material for Foundation Elixir. Even though it sounds very easy, Xiao Yan has a slight problem…. He’s broke.
Sitting on his bed, Xiao Yan has a bitter laugh. He had never thought that he would be in such an awkward situation because of money. While calculating… from last time, I still have 900 Gold Coins but with only so much money, buying the same grade material as last time is not going to happen.
Supporting his chin, Xiao Yan’s eyes rolled quickly. Suddenly, he asked: “Teacher, for Purple Bluegrass of Bone Washing Flower, can we use younger stalks?”
“Sure, but then the effects would be much weaker and the Foundation Elixirs that I’ve been refining are tailored for you.”
Blinking his eyes, Xiao Yan smiled: “No problem, let’s use the worst grade material this time.”
“The worst grade? Then the effects would be horrible and you’d need at least half a year to get to the next Duan Qi.” Yao Lao’s voice showed his displeasure, he was probably furrowing his brows right now.
“Don’t have enough money? Go borrow from that girl again. With her background, even a couple ten thousand Gold Coins would be a small matter. Taking a step back, you can borrow from your dad, why must you lower the effectiveness of the Elixir and slow down your training speed…”
Hearing Yao Lao’s suggestion, Xiao Yan shook his head: “Just think of it as my self-respect stopping me from doing so. How can I keep on borrowing money from a girl? As for my dad, I’ve been avoiding him for two months now and if he wants to know why I want the money then wouldn’t I have to expose you?”
“Wait, teacher, this Foundation Elixir, can other people refine or make it?” Suddenly thinking of something, Xiao Yan’s brows jumped and he hurriedly asked.
“Hehe, brat, in the Dou Qi Mainland, there are countless herbs and within these herbs, you must find a combination that both calms the violent energy within Monster Cores and refine it so that one can absorb it. If you just randomly put herbs together than the Alchemy Furnace breaking would be the least of your troubles, the energy might backfire, hehe…. This Foundation Elixir was created after experimenting for a couple of years! Of course, there might be someone that also found out how to create it by luck but the chances of that happening is almost nonexistent.”
“In addition, while refining, you must make sure that the fuse rate, amount used and fire temperature is perfect. You need to do countless experiments and have an incredible soul perception to do that. Or else, why do you think that every Alchemist needs a teacher? To become a strong Alchemist is impossible without a teacher guiding you. Just the time you spend trying out the different combinations of herbs would cost you your whole life!”
“Therefore, I can’t include the entire Dou Qi Mainland but at least for Jia Ma Empire, no one else has made a Foundation Elixir like mine!” At this point, Yao Lao’s voice incorporated a hint of pride.
Surprised by the complexity in the seemingly simple Foundation Elixir, Xiao Yan instinctively licked his lips. When he looked at Yao Lao refining herbs, it all seemed so simple but now with Yao Lao’s explanation, he realized that the art of Alchemy isn’t as simple as what he had saw.
The Alchemy world is definitely huge and mysterious. No wonder an Alchemist is the most honorable profession in the entire Dou Qi Mainland.
But after his shock, Xiao Yan felt a tinge of glee: “Teacher, I’m not going to use the horrible Foundation Elixir to train. Instead, I wanted to sell it in an auction. Even though I don’t have much right now, after the Foundation Elixir is sold then I’d have quite a bit and at that point buying high quality material for the Foundation Elixir would be super easy. Right?”
“I see… Sure. Alchemists selling their own pills isn’t interesting news and the Foundation Elixir is at the lowest level of training medicine so selling it doesn’t really matter.” After thinking for a while, Yao Lao carelessly said.
Hearing Yao Lao’s agreement, Xiao Yan quickly got what he needed and rushed out of his room.
Because Xiao Yan didn’t need high quality herbs, he carelessly picked the youngest Purple Bluegrass and Bone Washing Flower in the pharmacy and as for the monster core, he brought the cheapest core he could find, the Green Wood Mouse Monster Core.
After buying all the medicine, Xiao Yan found a hidden alley and had Yao Lao refine the herbs into the Foundation Elixir.
The Foundation Elixir this time not only had a much worse effect than last time, it even had a different color. Going from a near transparent jade green to mottled ugly green…
After placing the pill that was the size of half of Xiao Yan’s fist into a while Jade bottle that he had bought earlier, Xiao Yan finally let out a relaxed breath.
After hiding the jade bottle securely, Xiao Yan left the alley and ran towards Wu Tan City’s largest Auction.